Ousted Osceola clerk Malcom Thompson takes stand

KISSIMMEE – The workplace violence trial of Malcom Thompson Tuesday presented starkly conflicting descriptions of what happened in the Osceola County Courthouse's executive suite late last year.

Thompson, the ousted Clerk of Court removed by Gov. Rick Scott, took the stand in his own defense to challenge employees' accounts of an angry boss who struck a worker for challenging him.

"I love Latifa. She's a good girl. She comes from a good family," he said of Latifa Ramdani, the 50-year-old woman he's accused of almost knocking off her feet with a single blow. "It wasn't a hit. I went to tap her shoulder. I didn't hit her."

Blind in one eye, Thompson says the blow was an accident because he lacks depth perception.

Hours earlier, Ramdani's testimony about the same incident required two recesses after she first broke into tears and later collapsed on the witness stand.

She testified Thompson became furious when she wouldn't remove Christmas cards taped to his office doorframe on Dec. 29. And then, she said, he hit her so hard the blow drove her backwards.

"I'm hurt. I'm hurt," she remembered calling out to a co-worker before noticing a red bruise on her shoulder. "Oh, my God, look at that."

The case is the first of two trials which Thompson must win to have a chance of being re-elected this fall. He is charged with battery in the case involving Ramdani, his executive aide. In the second case, he is charged with assault against Clerk of Court Personnel Director Kim Zander for reporting what happened to law enforcement.

The trial resumes at 9 a.m. Wednesday and is expected to go the jury by day's end. The second trial is expected to begin Thursday morning with jury selection.

Thompson's testimony almost ended in a mistrial.

Within minutes of taking the stand, Thompson, 62, violated a pre-trial order not to discuss anything related to the loss of his left eye from being shot four times in 1997 when he was a Kissimmee police officer.

"I know it may sound corny, but I felt the only reason I was still alive," Thompson started to say about why he decided to run for Clerk of Court before Orange-Osceola Chief Judge Belvin Perry Jr. stopped him. After sending the jury out of the courtroom Perry spoke of possibly declaring a mistrial and holding Thompson in contempt of court if he violated the order again.

According to Thompson's testimony, he did not remember getting angry at Ramdani or any member of the staff except being frustrated they did not believe he accidentally struck her.

"It was like a volcano," he said of the staff reaction. "No, sir, I would never hit a woman. I have never hit a woman in my life."

Thompson told the jury he first met Ramdani while he was still a cop and ate at a local Sizzler restaurant. He was so impressed with her customer service and ability to speak multiple languages that he sought her out and hired her after his election in 2008.

Of blaming Ramdani's reaction to his alleged battery on menopause in a conversation with Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators, Thompson said, "I probably couldn't have picked worse words to say."

'For me, it's a shame'

Ramdani's two breaks in testimony came during cross- examination Tuesday morning by Thompson's lawyer, Stewart Cohen.

She first broke down when she recounted how Thompson did not apologize and returned to work the next day calling out, "'Good morning,' Iike nothing ever happened."

As Ramdani's testimony entered its second hour, Cohen pointed out that phone records show she spoke to Thompson about 30 times after work between he Dec. 29 incident and Jan. 30 when the governor removed him from office.

Much of her testimony was spent responding to questions about her relationship with Thompson. She described it as professional.

At 10:25 a.m., another recess was called when Ramdani collapsed on the stand. A victim advocate fanned her in the witness seat after the jury left the courtroom for 15 minutes.

Ramdani's collapse came after she said how she had wanted to keep her family name, her picture and religion out of the news.

"For me, it's a shame," she said. "Now, it's everywhere."

Reluctant witness

Ramdani has been a reluctant witness since the Dec. 29 incident.

When Thompson hired her, Ramdani had worked for 21 years as a waitress and supervisor at a Sizzler restaurant in Central Florida. Her application states she graduated in 1984 from an unidentified two-year hotel and business management school in Morocco and speaks English, French, Moroccan and Classical Arabic.

"Latifa is truly an outstanding employee…She gives 110% to the Clerk's Office," Thompson wrote in her first evaluation in April 2009. "Latifa brings a lot of excitement to the dept. She has a wonderful sense of humor and is truly loved by everyone."